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Yousef al-Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Washington, had a “McChrystal” moment last week.

No doubt the diplomat was feeling relaxed in his surroundings at the Aspen ideas festival. And so he spoke freely – a bit too freely – just like the US general who lost his job last month over his and his aides’ scathing comments about the Obama administration in Rolling Stone magazine.

That the UAE ambassador endorses military strikes against Iran is likely to have come as no surprise to the US; American officials have surely heard similar, if less melodramatic, comments in private before. Nor is the Iranian regime likely to have been shocked since it ascribes the worst intentions to its Arab neighbours.

Mr al-Otaiba’s comments, however, are likely to be news to some Emiratis, accustomed as they are to public opposition to military action. But Emiratis may not necessarily have heard about the remarks since they were covered locally as a denial, in most cases without mentioning what the young diplomat said in the first place.

The silence in the UAE media, and across the regional press, speaks volumes about the sensitivity of Gulf Arab relations with Iran.

By asserting that the dangers of military strikes are preferable to the perils of nuclear arms in Tehran (“I am willing to absorb what takes place at the expense of the security of the UAE,” said Mr al-Otaiba), the senior UAE official may have been exaggerating. B... >>>